Around 8:10am this morning, a car hit a bicyclist and then crashed into a 31-Balboa MUNI bus at the corner of 8th Avenue and Balboa. Both the cyclist and car driver were injured.

“Neighbors said they heard a very loud crash and screams. The cyclist on the ground was conscious and asked for someone to call his wife,” reader Shane J. reported.

According to KCBS, both the bicyclist and driver were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

There are conflicting reports about whether anyone was on board the Muni bus at the time of the collision. KCBS reports that there were no passengers but Shane F., another reader told us “People were on the bus. I was at the stop seconds after this happened.”

UPDATE: There were passengers on the bus when it collided with the cars. Reader Marilyn, also involved in the crash, left this comment: “The bus swerved to try to avoid hitting the van & cyclist. I know because it hit my car. And yes, there were people on the bus. They left the scene when the driver opened the back doors.”

KRON-4 reports that “the driver of a Honda vehicle appeared to have a medical emergency of some sort and failed to stop at a stop sign at 8th Avenue and Balboa. The car then hit the bicyclist from behind. Investigators say it appears a Muni bus traveling on the cross street swerved to avoid the Honda and the bicyclist and instead hit four other cars.”

we came upon the accident after it happened..Looked like a lot of people were involved. According to people i talked to, the van hit the bus after blowing through the stop sign and the cyclist was very lucky he rolled up onto the hood of the van as he would have been squashed. I was happy to see the cyclist moving. This really was a shocking way to start our morning on our way to school!

We were walking across Balboa a couple of blocks down. It looked like the van plowed into the bus, which then careened into the other cars. I didn’t know a bicyclist was involved until after I’d dropped the kids at school. I saw so many fire trucks & police cars so I (have to admit it) went back to rubberneck. An eyewitness told me the bicyclist was really lucky, or really smart, because he kind of hopped onto the van and was able to avoid being crushed between the bus & van! Sending healing wishes and swift insurance settlements to all.

I was on the bus with my 7 year old. We had just gotten on and were crossing the intersection when the van hit us, causing a chain reaction of us crossing the street and hitting two more cars. There were over 25 of us on the bus. We were let off after about 5 minutes.

Interesting, in the distant past passengers were not allowed to leave buses after accidents until police arrived and took statements. Now, it appears, the doors are opened so that buses can be boarded by anyone who can then file medical claims. It appears the Muni riders in our neighborhood are more honest than that and probably wanted just to reach their destinations.

The stop sign at 8th and Balboa is a joke. KRON says in this case the van driver “appeared to have a medical emergency of some sort and failed to stop at a stop sign”, but motorists regularly disregard this stop sign and even swerve around pedestrians crossing. Everyday we hear people honking and see close calls with cars getting in each other’s way.

What do you all think about requesting for a stoplight at this intersection? The traffic has gotten really busy here since both DeYoung and Academy of Sciences opened, and 8th avenue is now one of the main entrances into the park. There are stoplights on Balboa at 5th and 6th, but this intersection gets the same amount of traffic as those (if not more.. actually I’m sure this gets more traffic than 5th/Balboa)

@Homeowner: A stop light sounds fine to me. In fact, we have so much more traffic out here now, and there are so many more people driving recklessly, we should probably have more stop lights (not that all drivers see a red light as a notice to STOP, but it would be better than nothing).

As an aside, I’ve always found rubber-necking creepy. Here is a bicycle rider, splayed on the ground, in pain, and there are some people just standing there, gawking. I get that this is human nature at work, but it strikes me as bizarre. Would they want people doing that around them if they were in the same position? As a person with CERT training, I can say from personal experience that gawkers, more often than not, get in the way of ER folks who are trying to do their jobs. Please, people, stay away and watch the news to find out what happened. Best wishes to the injured.

I am the cyclist. I suffered three fractured vertebrae and have spent days in the hospital. It looks like I’ll be in a brace for several months. If anyone saw the incident, or has photographs it would certainly help me understand what happened. I can be reached at 8thbalboacyclist@gmail.com.